The Rhinovirus Hospitalization and Investigation of Nasal-airway Omics (RHINO) Study
Identifying the Burden of Hospitalization Due to Rhinovirus (RV) in Children and Mechanisms of Pathogenesis Using Airway Molecular Profiling
4 other identifiers
observational
670
1 country
1
Brief Summary
The goal of this study is to determine the burden of Rhinoviruses (RVs) as a cause of acute, severe, respiratory illnesses leading to hospitalization. A community cohort of 120 children between 12 and 36 months of age will be enrolled in the first year of the study and followed (when well and sick) for 36 months to identify the circulating RVs and provide samples to establish a host nasal transcriptome differentiating clinical from subclinical RV infections. A hospitalized cohort of 450 infants and children will be enrolled during years 1 through 3 of the study and followed for the duration of their hospitalization to investigate the findings of the community cohort. An additional 100 healthy children aged 5-17 years will be enrolled for age-match comparison with the older hospitalized cohort.
Trial Health
Trial Health Score
Automated assessment based on enrollment pace, timeline, and geographic reach
participants targeted
Target at P75+ for all trials
Started May 2026
Longer than P75 for all trials
1 active site
Health score is calculated from publicly available data and should be used for screening purposes only.
Trial Relationships
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Study Timeline
Key milestones and dates
First Submitted
Initial submission to the registry
January 13, 2026
CompletedFirst Posted
Study publicly available on registry
January 15, 2026
CompletedStudy Start
First participant enrolled
May 1, 2026
CompletedPrimary Completion
Last participant's last visit for primary outcome
May 1, 2030
ExpectedStudy Completion
Last participant's last visit for all outcomes
May 1, 2030
February 24, 2026
February 1, 2026
4 years
January 13, 2026
February 23, 2026
Conditions
Keywords
Outcome Measures
Primary Outcomes (2)
Aim 1: Summary of Rhinovirus Types Identified in Community Cohort
To test study hypotheses, the study team will identify the circulating RV types in symptomatic and asymptomatic children.
data collected up to 36 months
Aim 1: Unique Nasal Transcriptomic Signature of Clinical Rhinovirus Infections
data collected up to 36 months
Secondary Outcomes (2)
Aim 2: Summary of Rhinovirus Types Identified in lower respiratory tract (LRT) infections and upper respiratory tract infections (URI), Reported as Percent in Common
data collected up to 36 months
Aim 2: Proportion of Hospitalized Cohort with lower respiratory infections attributable to Rhinovirus
data collected up to 36 months
Study Arms (3)
Younger Community Cohort (12-36 months of age)
Quarterly Surveillance Nasal Swabs and Nasal Swabs targeted around respiratory symptoms for up to 36 months of age, participants will provide one anterior and one mid-turbinate nasal swab sample
Hospitalized Cohort of Infants and Children
Generally healthy infants and children hospitalized for respiratory illness will provide one anterior and one mid-turbinate nasal swab sample
Older Community Cohort (5 to 17 years of age)
Age-matched controls for older children in the Hospitalized Group, will be called upon as needed based on enrollment of hospitalized patients
Interventions
Families will be asked to collect nasal swabs from their children during specified surveillance months (February, April, September, and December). Caregivers will be instructed to only collect surveillance samples during these months if and when children have been free of respiratory symptoms for at least two weeks prior to sampling. Caregiver surveys are part of quarterly surveillance.
Caregivers will be instructed to watch for respiratory symptoms and collect nasal swabs 24-48 hours after symptom onset. Caregiver surveys are part of sick sample collection
2 nasal swabs collected upon consent, one anterior and one mid-turbinate
Caregivers are surveyed 7-13 days after sick sample collection
Participants will be enrolled as needed based on enrollment of hospitalized patients
Eligibility Criteria
Aim 1: Generally healthy male and female children 12 to 36 months of age living in Dane County and surrounding areas representative of the general demographics of the county. Aim 2a: Hospitalized male and female children between newborn and 17 years of age with acute onset lower respiratory tract infections. These children will span all demographic and socioeconomic groups. Aim 2b: Generally healthy male and female children 5 to 17 years of age living in Dane County and surrounding areas representative of the general demographics of the county.
You may qualify if:
- Parent/legal guardian is willing and able to provide informed consent in English.
- Willing to comply with all study procedures and be available for the duration of the study.
- Younger Community Group: Generally healthy children 12 to 36 months of age at the time of enrollment
- Older Community Group: Generally healthy children 5 to 17 years of age at the time of enrollment.
- Current patient within primary care system at UW Health
- Parent/legal guardian is willing and able to provide informed consent in English.
- Admitted to American Family Children's Hospital (AFCH) within the past 24 hours
- Children under 18 years of age at the time of enrollment
- Has a diagnosis of bronchiolitis, asthma exacerbation or CAP OR is an infant less than 6 months of age with fever greater than 38 degrees Celsius within 24 hours of hospital admission
You may not qualify if:
- Congenital or currently acquired immunosuppressive condition or medications (e.g., congenital immunodeficiency, Leukemia, Lupus)
- Congenital anomalies that might alter frequency of infection (e.g., unrepaired cleft palate, bronchial cyst, pulmonary sequestration)
- Presence of tracheostomy or gastrostomy tube
- Previously enrolled a different group in the study
- Other child in the same household already enrolled in the study
- Not suitable for study participation due to other reasons at the discretion of the investigators.
- Acute upper respiratory symptoms within the past week (7 days) at the time of enrollment
- A positive test for any virus other than RV within the 48 hours prior to and including admission.
- Born prematurely, less than 32 weeks 0 days gestational age
Contact the study team to confirm eligibility.
Sponsors & Collaborators
Study Sites (1)
University of Wisconsin
Madison, Wisconsin, 53792, United States
Biospecimen
liquid media from nasal swabs only, induced sputum, blood, and residual clinical samples
Study Officials
- PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Ellen R Wald, MD
UW School of Medicine and Public Health
Central Study Contacts
Study Design
- Study Type
- observational
- Observational Model
- COHORT
- Time Perspective
- PROSPECTIVE
- Sponsor Type
- OTHER
- Responsible Party
- SPONSOR
Study Record Dates
First Submitted
January 13, 2026
First Posted
January 15, 2026
Study Start
May 1, 2026
Primary Completion (Estimated)
May 1, 2030
Study Completion (Estimated)
May 1, 2030
Last Updated
February 24, 2026
Record last verified: 2026-02
Data Sharing
- IPD Sharing
- Will share
- Shared Documents
- STUDY PROTOCOL, SAP, ICF
- Time Frame
- Data from this study may be requested from other researchers 3 years after the completion of the primary endpoint by contacting the study team at UW-Madison.
All of the raw RNA-sequencing data will be available in FASTQ files and all of the processed gene counts data and relevant metadata will be available in CSV files. It is customary and expected that the results of this investigation will be published in a scientific journal. All of the data underlying publications will be shared. All raw FASTQ data and aligned counts data will be deposited into the public repository Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) at the end of the study, so that other researchers can freely make use of the data. The shared data sets will be available in GEO and we will adhere to their guidelines for what the datasets will include.